Mexican soldiers arrest 25 in commando group

The Mexican army caught 25 members of a paramilitary-style group allegedly setting fire to houses near the town of Madera, Chihuahua, the federal attorney general's office said Sunday.

The arrests took place at a ranch after soldiers with the 35th Infantry Battalion, based in Nuevo Casas Grandes, responded to an anonymous report about 3 a.m. Thursday, Joint Operation Chihuahua officials said. Madera is located in mountains about 340 miles southwest of Juárez.

The men had green camouflage uniforms, ski masks and were equipped with 17 AK-47s and other weapons that were seized by the army along with three pickups and two sport utility vehicles, authorities said.

"We are on your side" and "We have authorization to work in this town," group members told soldiers who stopped their vehicles, military officials said. There were no reported injuries.

They face charges for federal weapons violations, criminal activity and illicit use of uniforms. It was not disclosed what links, if any, the group has to organized crime. There were no details on the homes set ablaze.

In other news, a suspected hit man was nabbed after killing a man and then exchanging gunfire with soldiers and federal police during a pursuit Friday morning on the streets of Juárez, military officials said.

The deaths continued during the weekend, including a 12-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy killed when the 1972 van they were riding in was strafed with about 70 gunshots Saturday night in the Barreales community outside of Juárez, Chihuahua state police said.

Police said Victor Manuel Chuca Nevares, 14, died sitting in the passenger seat. Outside the van lay the bodies of Priscilla Ibarra Alfaro, 12, and Arturo Amaya Rodriguez, who was in his 30s. The body of Javier Morales Beltran, 36, was found a few blocks away.

More than 700 people have been killed in the Juárez area this year, with more than 2,300 homicides since a war among drug cartels began in January 2008.